The indications or uses for this product as provided by the manufacturer, or as found in contemporary medical literature, are:
One of sixty-seven (67) specimens of crude drugs and pharmaceutical preparations of aloes, camphor, ginger, and rhubarb donated by Parke, Davis and Company in 1928 for the pharmacy exhibits. The museum curator solicited these preparations for an exhibit of medicines “telling the story of the cultivation, collection, marketing, and medicinal use of well-known and extensively used drugs.” The official drugs were exhibited along with examples of the crude botanical drug and photographs of the cultivation and processing of aloes, camphor, ginger, and rhubarb. The curator requested that the specimens be supplied in the company’s regular stock containers whenever possible rather than using the uniform display bottles often employed in the pharmacy exhibits. "The idea is to give the visiting public information concerning the numerous official medicines which contain the drugs in question. For this purpose, I think a variety in the style of the containers is desirable."
For use as a laxative but is rarely employed today. It has gained some reputation as an abortifacient and therefore must be sold with caution. [Remington's Practice of Pharmacy, Seventh Edition, 1926]
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.